Method of making refrigerating apparatus



p 1942- A. A. McCORMACK 2,296,724

METHOD OF MAKING REFRIGERAIING APPARATUS Filed June ,30, 1939 2 A INVENTIQR.

Patented 2 ,1 42

UN'lTED s e m-em pence v l mmwiti l I I "Alex-1.1

corporation of "ApplioatloniJIlnc.30',. 1939,

BEFBIGERATING 'rUs liIcGor-mackt Ohiaasignor to.' v I eraiMotors Corporation; Qhio,' a g at, carats a reins. "(cue-45s) This invention relates to a method of making I r a refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to shaft seals for refrigerant compressors. I

Formerly shaft seals operated directly against a shoulder on the compressor with these loose gaskets, since the rubber-like material of these gaskets would creep and bedrive shaft. 'How-' ever, it is diincult to provide a hardened surface such a shoulder and more recently seal rings have been applied to the shaft by means of a shaft andgprojects beyond .the gasket of. rubber- 'likematerial.

come distorted thereby breaking or disrupting the.

gas-tight seal between the seal ring and the shaft. In order toovercome this it is an object of my invention to provide a seal ring construction in which arubher-like gasket is vulcanized or otherwise permanently fastened to the seal rin and it is a more particular object of my invention to provide a construction of the seal ring inwhich such a seal ring may be readily manufactured at a low cost.

-It is an-object of my invention to provide a hardened seal ring' with a gasket permanently fastened thereto which is constructed so as to of the seal ring.

. make it easy to grind and lap the sealing surface,

formed of a rubber-like material which-isvulcaniaed toone faceiand tothe'interiorof the seal ring for making sealing contact with the shoulder and'the reduced portion ot'the com .pressor shaft; The opposite face of the seal ring lapped while. the other face of the seal ring is provided with a lapping which overlies the shoulder on the" compressor" provides-a running seal face which'is protection or shoulder The sealring is held by this shoulder in-a magnetic chuck cfdriinish grinding the running seal face and the seal ring is'lapped between two lappingwhich may be Referring now-to the drawing, there is shown in'Fig. l'a" portion ofthe wall of a refrigerant compressor designated by the "provided with a. e through and is -rotatabiy mounted within thev j of the 'compressor wall" 20; i 7 7 20 is provided with a sealboss 28 outside ofthe bearing portion which drive slr it Marina-portion 24 The compressor-wall is provided with a seal cavity 28. This seal'cav a za containsthe sheaf seal which'includes' the provide a protruding projection on the seal ring A which makes it posslble'to readily grind and lap the seal face of thering after the gasket of rubher-like material is in place. I r

It is still another object of my invention to provide a seal ring with a projection for dacilitating lapping and grinding of the seal face.

It is still another object of my invention to pro vide an improved method of manufacturing such a seal ring.

l urtherobjects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing: Fig. l is a sectional view of a compressor shaft Briefly, I have shown a seal ring adapted to seal embodying my invention, together .with a diagrammatic illustration of areirigerating sysshaft sea-l also which is lodged against the shoulder the compressorshatt 2 2. The includes a movable seal ring 34 to one end o! the metal belseal ring 3! 32 provided on which is connected lows 36. The

is fastened to the lace oi theboss 26 by the ring 40 'and'thecap screws"; A gasket 44 is provided'for sealingthe metal plate-l8 to the lace of the boss .26. Coil spring 48 extends-between he lodged against the shoulder on the compressor drive shaft. The seal ring is provided with face of the ring v the ring-30.

the metal plate 38- and a spring retainer 48 provided upon the movable ring for holding the 34 in contact with the Iaceof This seal prevents the escape of refrigerant from the crankcase of the compressor through the drive shaft hearing. The drive shaft 22 or the compressor is provided with a pulley 50 at its outer end connected by a belt 52 to the comressor driving motor 54. The compressor is provided with a cylinder 5' containing a piston and a connecting rod which is connected to the drive shaft l2 oi the compressor. shaft is rotated by the driving motor 54 refrigdenser where the compressed refrigerant .is

liquefied and collected in a receiver 62 from which annular gasket 'L-sh'aped in cross-section and blocks which contact ning sealjaciaifind this projection or shoulder edalappingshoulder.

reference character" 22 which extends other endoi this metal bellows; 38 is connected toa pressed steel plate. "which I when the drive y the liquid refrigerant is returned to the evaporator under control of a thermostatic automatic 1 yp of expansion valve 84. A snap acting switch 68 is ordinarily provided for controlling the op-- drive shaft 22 of the compressor. Considerable difficulty was had with the loose gasket because of the fact that masionally the seal ring 30 would stick to the movable seal ring 34 and the seal ring Ill would then move relative to the drive shaft 22 and cause the loose gasket to be damaged to such an extent that it would no longer provide a seal between the seal ring 30 andthe shaft 22. Sometimes such a loose gasket would be completely pulled out of place; also there was always some tendency for the gasket tocreep or to shift its position.

In order to overcome this dimculty I have provided a gasket 68 which is vulcanized to the seal ring. This annular gasket is preferably L-shaped in cross-section and provides a seal not only between the shoulder 32 on the shaft.

and the adjacent face of the seal ring I! but also provides an efl'ective gripping or driving portion which also acts as a second seal between the inside of the seal ring and the reduced portion of the compressor drive shaft 22. The face 18 of the seal gasket 68 is preferably slightly conical or inclined at an angle of about 4 so that it seals tightly against the outer portions of the shoulder 32.

Preferably this seal gasket 68 is made of a rubber-like material which includes a polymer of chloro-butadiene 1,3 known as chloroprene, Duprene or neoprene. However, for different applications different gasket materials may be used and if desired may be cemented 'or otherwise fastened in place.

New problems were encountered in the manufacture and finishing of such a seal ring. It was necessary to harden the seal ring before the gas-' ket could be vulcanized in place and it was necessary to finish grinding and lap the seal face after the gasket was vulcanized in place because the heat from vulcanizing the gasket to the seal ring might distort the seal ring and warp the.

seal face. It was therefore necessary to find some means for providing a satisfactory finish for the operating seal face 10 after the gasket was -vul-.

canized in place. One possible method would be to hold the seal ring by its outer periphery. This method, however, did not appear to provide sufilcient accuracy or case of grinding or lapping.

In order to 'provide a surface which could be used. to hold the seal ring while the face 10 was ground I provide a projecting shoulder 12 which surrounds the gasket. 68 and projects beyond its the face of the shoulder I2 is-held by magnetic attraction. This is possible because the seal ring 30 is made of steel. This projecting shoulder 12 is first ground to reduce the ring to approximately the proper thickness desired and toprovide a smooth surface to be held by the magnetic chuck. While the shoulder 12 of seal ring 30 is held by the magnetic chuck, the face 10 can readily be ground even though the gasket 68 is in place. By first grinding the shoulder I2 to the approximate desired thickness of the ring only a very small thickness of metal need be removed from the face 10 thereby assuring the retaining of the hardened surface layer upon this face I0.

Folllowing this grinding of the face 10 the seal ring 30 is lapped between lapping blocks 14 and I6 as shown in Fig. 3. By this process the face 10 of the seal ring is lapped by the blockll whil the face of the shoulder I2 is lapped by the bio k 16. In this way the two faces of the sealring are made perfectly plain and parallel.

In the steps prior to the vulcanization of the gasket 68 to the seal ring 30 the seal ring 30 is cut to an approximate size forming the seal face III, the shoulder 12 and the recess for the gas-- ket 68. After this the seal ring 30 is hardened and then the gasket 68 is vulcanized in place. Then following the vulcanization, the seal ring is placed in a magnetic chuck which is similar grind the surface of the shoulder 12 of the seal ring until the thickness of the ring is reduced nearly to the desired final thickness, and then the ring is reversed and the shoulder 12 is held by the magnetic chuck and the grinding wheel is caused to grind the face I0 of the seal ring but only a small amount of metal is removed from this surface to bring it to its final thickness and to make its face 10 plane and smooth.

Following this grinding operation the seal ring is placed between the lapping block as shown in Fig. 3 to provide a perfectly smooth, plane finished surface for the face of the ring Ill.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claim which follows.

What is claimed is as follows:

The method of making a seal ring provided with a gasket which comprises forming a blank ring,. rough cutting the seal face on one side of the ring and a gasket recess flanked by a projection on the other side, hardening the ring, hot vulcanizing a gasket in said gasket recess in said seal ring beneath said projection. grinding said seal face to provide a'seal surfaceiwhile said ring surface so that this shoulder may be held in a m netic chuck having a flat face upon which is held by a magnetic chuck through said proiection, and lapping said seal face to provide a smooth seal surface.

ALEX A. McCORMACK. 

